Barrow v Southport match thread

[Si_Nichols]

The league table pretty much taking shape as expected. Of the top 10 I suspect Braintree, Woking and Chester may slip away leaving the other sides plus maybe Dover in the top third. Not so sure there is that much quality in the rest in reality.

The three sides we have lost to so far (all away) have only lost one game between them. Getting a win on Monday would certainly be handy and more than likely leave us comfortably in mid table after seven games. These are the games that we need to get something from.

I think we are going to be on the wrong end of some biggish defeats against the top sides and need to scrap for what we can against the rest making the most of our home form. If we do that we will be somewhere in mid table come the end of the season. If we don't start picking up points against the weaker teams away then even decent home form is unlikely to keep us out of a relegation fight.

Caught the second half on the radio today and it sounded pretty awful. Hope I can see our first away points on Monday with the long trip up to Halifax after having them snatched away from us last Saturday.

[Blue and white]

3pts in the bag for the bluebirds -= a great Sat! We were good for the pts today, defence , solid , Livesey and gk played great!

[K_BFC]

One of the easiest games we will get all season.

Sad to say but Southport are relegation fodder if that is the best they can do. They posed no threat in the 1st while giving Barrow arches of space in midfield to build an attack. One good save by Dixon and a scramble in the 6 yard box resulting in a freekick the closest they came, the only effort they had on target I think. You could count their chances on half a hand, 2.5. They sat deep packing the box and rarely pressed the ball, coupled that with aimless long balls to no one. A bad tackle that could have been a lot worse and I didn't see what it was for the 2nd, I've been told a kickout, gave them 2 reds. I would be very depressed after that if I was a Southport supporter.

Barrow just didn't take advantage and played at a slow pace but they didn't need to Southport were that bad, Barrow where worth the points. Someone needs to teach Howarth how to shoot, he could have had a hattrick if he had his efforts on target. New lad van den Broek didn't get too invovled but he did get a lot of attention from the defenders. He looked a bit slow so, I think he is lacking games. Cook's goal was a bright point, controlled with one foot finished with the other beyond the keeper toward the far post.

3 points, next up Halifax who scoring record is 6 times better than Southport.

[Jonty]

A much needed win but that was far from convincing against a really poor side. Maybe I'm just frustrated that we couldn't push on and get that second goal which would have let us relax a little. As it turned out it was heart in the mouth time at the end as we were guilty of being static (yet again) when defending the corner (seems to be a problem even this early into the season) and if it wasn't for a great one handed save by Dixon it could have ended 1-1 at the death against the worst side I've seen at HS for quite a while.
They were a rotten side - grabbing, holding, and posed little threat going forward but at only 1-0 there's always that danger that they'll grab a goal.

There's got to be a lot more to come from this Barrow team. There's some promising signs today, Cook is on fire, Newby looked great when he came on, Haworth- some good runs, we have loads of possession yet we lack that cutting edge. I'd like to see what Grimes can do but Walker's work rate is fantastic even though he is not scoring goals like he used to.

[Jonty]

Okay, we won, but nevertheless I feel strongly that we need to log on to http://www.lol.com or, to put it another way, when will we learn our lesson? The lesson being that we should stop sitting back on narrow leads, stop settling for scrambling scrappy wins. We did this nearly all last season, only really coming alive in the last two home matches of the season when we played with verve and character. And we’ve done exactly the same in the first three home matches this season when, if I’m honest, we were fortunate to beat Dover, the Guiseley match could have gone either way and today we could have ended up with a 1-1 draw but for miraculous events at the end. I know I’m grumbling after we have won but I think it’s a poor show when we find ourselves desperately hanging on at home against the bottom side in the league. It’s true that against some teams in this league we might find ourselves getting outplayed and pressed back, even at home, but we certainly need to be taking the fight to the opposition in most of our home matches. There’s a big difference between being pinned back in our own half when our opponents are better than us and sitting back as a strategy, trying to hang onto a 1-0 lead against a bottom-of-the-table side. Let’s see us giving it a right go, let’s see us trying to go forward even when we are winning.

The other pointer arising from today’s match is that there’s a case for MOTM announcements being delayed till the very end. The keeper gets it today for me, as his “worldy” saved us from a draw at the end, just as MOTM was being given out! In a scrappy match that one moment alone was enough to earn him MOTM for me but his much improved coming for, and handling of, crosses (after a nervy few moments in earlier matches) was the stand-out feature of today’s performances.

really good post. Dixon did keep us in it at the end there and was my MoM. We should have been out of sight- not nearly blowing it.

[paddy71]

Not very pretty to watch but a wins a win.3 more points on Monday and the table will look a lot better

[Just A Barrow Fan]

No Edmo out call from me today

[Moonwatcher]

I thought we completely controlled the first half, and with a bit more composure when it mattered we could and should have been out of sight by half time. What disappointed me most was the way we completely failed to boss the first twenty minutes of the second half, and it made for a nervy last few minutes. We were kept in it by Joel at the end, and It shouldn't have come to that. Mind you, their keeper made a fabulous save from Elliot Newby when a second goal would have killed the game off. We should have won more comfortably, and we looked unconvincing at times, but I didn't think we were as bad as some are saying. I think there were some decent individual showings, ARH had a good first half, Paddy had a solid enough game, Cooky did what Cooky does. The Dutch lad had a quiet debut, but looks okay. Elliot Newby is an exciting prospect, and Joel is looking better with every game, more like the signing we hoped he would be. I do agree about Southport though - they looked a poor side.

[Chris Benoit]

It was a poor game involving two poor sides. Fortunately for us Southport were the worst I've witnessed for quite a while. Lacey frustrated me with his constant passes back to defenders which on more than one occasion put us under unnecessary pressure. Haworth is a good player but his idea is the same every time (cut inside and blast it), a welcome win but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We're going to have to improve massively to take points of better teams than Southport (Monday at Halifax included).

[Optimism]

An ugly, unconvincing but wholehearted performance against an abysmal Southport side.

We're not a team yet. Individually there was promise.

Joel Dixon was commanding, aerially dominant and alert. I said after the Dover game he seems a decisive keeper, who wants to claim and command. This is far preferable to a more restricted, cautious keeper who stays more closely to his line. Whereas against Dover he was a tad impetuous rushing from his line, today everything he came for he claimed. He handled impeccably in the Barrovian breeze and left his line quickly and judiciously. His shot shopping wasn't required much - bar that outstanding, win-sealing instinctive save late on. In a game saturated with mistakes, he was faultless and my man of the match. I had absolute confidence in him.

George Williams is settling in well, he's mature and composed, doing the basics well without rushing in and over committing. Grand and Livesey were typically resolute, in their element standing up and excellently repelling Southport's uninspired direct style. Neil Ashton was a calming influence alongside, making a crucial tackle to prevent a late Rutherford cross on one of the visitors' rare trips in behind. (Great to see the ace scamperer get a polite welcome for all his efforts with us.)
What with the Wrexham connection, I'll lazily call him a left-sided Simon Spender, dependable, unfussy, positionally aware.

Cook and Walker were industrious, the former manhandled all game without official protection.

But we painfully lack cohesion. It was only Andy Haworth driving at the back line at pace that saved the first half an hour being a threatless write off. It was solo stuff. The middle remains a muddle. Who to pass to, when? Paddy Lacey and ARH worked tremendously hard and were big contributors to the win, but still they didn't anchor the centre as dominantly as I'd like. Harvey can motor forward well to link to the frontline but we don't see this often enough. Is Lacey a good enough support? He'll try his damnedest showing us.

Southport were an exceptionally poor side. The worst I've seen at this level since we returned to the Conference in 2008. A team of greater conviction and quality would've hammered then out of sight.

Individually, across the pitch, but most weakly from the central midfield duo, there were encouraging signs, including Elliott Newby, who was sparky and seemed to belong during his cameo substitute appearance.

But we're not a convincing team yet. We're uncertain. Our pass completion rate in the first half was atrocious. Better sides than Southport, - basic, physical, goal shy, evidently low on confidence - would've exploited the space afforded through carelessly surrendered possession.

Much work to be done, but a very valuable 3 points.

[GTBLUE]

3pts in the bag for the bluebirds -= a great Sat! We were good for the pts today, defence , solid , Livesey and gk played great!

Not sure why you are jumping for joy. Ok we won, but your post says it all. A centre half and goalkeeper were your best players. Say's it all really. Two awful teams.

[Moribund]

Give over pal, comfortable win?? Which game were you at? If it wasn't for Dixon in the last minute we would have drawn 1-1, a comfortable win in my eyes is a 4-0, 4-1 win not a 1-0 struggle with only only effort on goal I recall being the goal. Blinkered to death if that's a comfortable win GIVE OVER.

While I'm at it where exactly was this "gulf" in class you saw because I was defo at different game! 2 massively poor sides for this league. FACT

Errr...did you see Southport have the ball? I can't think they strung two passes together at any point. If we had Prem-level stats, possession must've been about 80/20. All we were missing was an end product. We were so comfortable in the first half I was worried we'd missed the boat, but nope, they didn't even turn up for the second half either.
I'm not saying we were great, but we were a different level to that shite. Not once did I feel like they were putting on any kind of pressure, ie comfortable.

[Nigel Bamford]

If we had Prem-level stats, possession must've been about 80/20.

66:34 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34025490

[Middleton Nick]

Couldn't go.Just glad we ground a result out in what sounds like a poor match.Disappointing attendance.It soon drops if we are not winning.

[Bingo]

Nice weekend

Bank holiday

People away

Cartmel races

Boxing at nines

Gay pride in Manchester

Lots of reasons - play like we did last couple of games last season and the crowds will grow - play this defensive sit back on a one goal lead crap and the floaters with float off